Success by exam in South Korea

South Korean students take their College Scholastic Ability Test at a school on Nov. 18, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. More than 700,000 high school seniors and graduates sit for the examinations at 1,100 test centers across the country. Success in the exam, one of the most rigourous standardized tests in the world, enables students to study at Korea's top universities.

Ahn Young-joon / AP

A South Korean student runs for a gate, which is about to close, while heading to her College Scholastic Ability Test in front of an exam hall in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010.

Chung Sung-jun / Getty Images

South Korean students take their College Scholastic Ability Test at a school on Nov. 18, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea.

Chung Sung-jun / Getty Images

South Korean high school boys and girls cheer for their senior classmates taking the College Scholastic Ability Test on Nov. 18, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea.

Chung Sung-jun / Getty Images

Parents pray for their children's success at the College Scholastic Ability Test at Chogye Buddhist temple on Nov. 18, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea.

Ahn Young-joon / AP

South Korean parents pray during a special service to wish for their children's success in the upcoming Colleague Scholastic Ability Test at the Jogye Temple in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010. Traffic control and anti-noise measures were ready across the nation Wednesday on the eve of the College Scholastic Ability Test.

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From Wikipedia:

College Scholastic Ability Test also known as Suneung, is a type of standardized test accepted by all South Korean universities. The CSAT is managed by the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Examination. The test is offered on the second Thursday of November. On the test day, government employees arrive to work later than the ordinary time to avoid traffic jams that could prevent students from getting to testing sites. The CSAT is one of the most rigorous standardized tests in existence, and students start preparing for it as early as elementary school. Since South Korea has one of the highest number of post-secondary degree holders in the world, the extreme pressure felt by students culminate to teenage depression and high rates of suicide. Oftentimes, students are escorted by police, especially if students don't think they will arrive at the test centre on time. Since the test is almost literally a life-and-death exam for students, the preparation for it is so secure and strict that since its beginning from 1993, Suneung questions were never leaked. Questions are made by chosen professors and teachers, who are locked in a hotel with blacked windows, no communication and a full library of questions until the end of Suneung.